


To Err is Human, To Forgive, Divine

by slythermin



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Romance, Daphne is femme fatale, Dom/sub, Dominance, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance, F/M, Harry Potter - Freeform, Heavy Angst, Hogwarts Seventh Year, Hurt/Comfort, Love, Mystery, NottGrass, Romance, Secrets, Sex, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slytherin, Smut, Theo is inexplicably drawn to her, Theo/Daphne, Voldemort is dead, but since she's practically an enigma theo has a lot of work to do, daphne is also emotionally detached but you didn't hear it from me, emotionally distant rather
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-04
Updated: 2017-10-21
Packaged: 2019-01-09 02:24:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12266979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slythermin/pseuds/slythermin
Summary: "Secrets are always trouble – mine are not for you," she said.Theo stroked her hair, as if he could untangle thoughts as easily as knots. "Would yours hurt me?"Daphne Greengrass and Theodore Nott are both too vain to let their supposed title of promiscuity fall to the other. A friendly wager quickly turns into a dangerous competition that could result in the most painful title of all: love.





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: All these characters belong to the brilliant, Joanne Kathleen Rowling. I do not own Harry Potter. If I did, I'd be travelling the world right now. I'm merely playing in her sandbox, and do not receive any financial gain from this fanfiction.
> 
> Author's Note: I have been a Potterhead for ten years now, and this is my first contribution to this fandom. I simply adore ships like Dramione, Hinny, NottGrass and Blaistoria and Bluna. This NottGrass story is something I have had in my mind for a while now. This is an experiment, but one I sincerely hope Potterheads will enjoy. Please read, vote and review. Without your thoughts, this story is a mere nothing.

Her smile was dangerous.

There was a secret in the corner of the lips, a slight upturn to their plumpness, which suggested she was always a few steps ahead of you. And chances were, she was. She had a quality that not many people possessed anymore. A sort of magnetic pull in the most toxic of ways. One never quite knew what they were getting themselves into with her. She was extreme. When she got into something, she was completely in. It was both the best and worst thing about her.

Daphne Elizabeth Greengrass had the ability to make someone feel like they were the most important person in the whole room, and people would be drawn to her like a moth to the flame. She was that good at managing people. She was an enigma, a mystery – a puzzle everyone strived to solve, but to no avail.

People wanted to be managed by her, too. They'd follow her around wherever she went. She didn't mind, either. She enjoyed the attention. She enjoyed the adoration. She enjoyed being talked about. She flourished in the limelight and wilted in the shadows. These people would do anything to bask in her light for even a brief second – all of which was happening right then.

Annual Yule Ball, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, year 1999.

The Second Wizarding War was over, marking Voldemort's ultimatum – his downfall, in the hands of the famous Harry Potter. Britain was still very much wretched, but with the passage of time, everything was gradually coming back to normal – it was something everyone yearned for, normalcy. That did not even spare Hogwarts' new headmistress, Professor Minerva McGonagall, who arranged an annual ball to celebrate the victory. There was an air of anticipation, after a long period of time. It made the ball a lot livelier than the one they had in their fourth year.

Thousands of white and yellow daffodils peeked out of the staircases heading down to the Great Hall. There were floating candles leading to the entrance and students were starting to make their way inside. The inside of the Great Hall was an astonishing sight. A dozen chandeliers hung low from the faraway ceiling, glittering with bright white candles. The parquet dance floor seemed to stretch on into the next city, and ringing the dance floor were long tables covered in white linen, laid with platters of cakes and cookies, and food of all sort and great crystal goblets filled with pumpkin juice, butterbeer and other drinks. At the back were small, round tables instead of the four long ones for each houses, all set up beautifully. There was a stage up front where a band was setting up instruments to provide entertainment.

Daphne was standing in the center of the room, her head inclined a little and cocked to the left as she looked up at the large faraway ceiling of the Great hall. She wore a gorgeous floor length silver gown, accented with a pair of white elbow length opera gloves. In her hand she held a champagne flute elegantly, though the beverage was seemingly untouched. Her bluish-green eyes were focused on the tree, but the moment someone stepped up beside her, she turned her gaze to them and it was as though she lit up. Her eyes brightened, her smile spread widely and warmly, and her body language echoed some kind of welcome. Terence Higgs, her newest visitor, melted behind her smile.

"Greengrass, eh?" Blaise chimed in, making Theodore's train of thoughts disappear in thin air. Theo glanced at the dark skinned wizard, who was sitting beside him in tight-fitted robes and clutching a half empty glass in his hand. He ran his fingers through his dark hair, deciding to play oblivious to his apparent accusation.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Zabini."

Blaise, however, was having none of it. He knew Theodore well enough, after all – he was the only person Theo considered the closest to a 'friend', not an ally.

"You were gawking at her not just seconds ago, mate," he pointed out with a sigh. "Don't play dumb, it doesn't suit you."

"Can't someone, for Salazar's sake, just  _look_  at someone and not get questioned about it?" Theo asked him, already irritated.

"Definitely," Blaise countered, seemingly having way too much fun pestering his dear friend. "But, you know, it's definitely not a crime admitting that she looks hot. It's stupid, after all, denying the obvious."

" _You_ go to her, if you find her that bloody hot," Theo challenged.

"I would have, but I have a date, remember?" Blaise winked, making Theo roll his eyes. Of course. Blaise had Daphne's younger sister, Astoria, accompany him to the ball. "Besides," he continued, grinning, "I'm a loyal man."

Theo jeered, he had to. "She's trouble," he said, glancing at Daphne again. She was leaning in to whisper something in Terence's ear, making a small smirk spread across the older male's lips.

"Oh, yeah?" the mocha-skinned wizard interrogated, licking his lips, making Theo turn his attention back to his friend. "What makes you say so?"

Daphne had a reputation of being the femme fatale of Slytherin, but Theo didn't feel like talking about that, he couldn't. Reputation was a field where he could really be Daphne's equal, very unfortunately so.

"Anyone this intriguing must be trouble," Theo reasoned, even before thinking twice. He spluttered, blaming his alcohol consumption for his loose-lipped state, as Blaise broke out into an ear-to-ear grin.

"So, you admit you find her intriguing," he chuckled. "Honestly. Go and talk to her, instead of eyeing her like that."

"Like what?"

"Like a starving beast eyeing its prey."

Theo didn't go red, but a light shade of pink appeared on his cheeks. Fortunately, Theo didn't get enough time to think of a reply equally as witty as Blaise's, as Astoria approached him, wearing a simple blue, sleeveless gown. Blaise's expression morphed into a genuine smile, upon spotting the beautiful younger witch – something which gave Theo the impression that Blaise was truly enamoured by the said Greengrass.

Talk about the Greengrass siblings being enchanting.

"Ready to go?" Blaise asked her, getting up and offering his hand. Astoria took it and beamed at him. Blaise turned his head to glance at Theo and regarded him briefly with a small smirk, motioning him to go talk to Daphne. With that, they made their way to the dance floor.

Theo looked back to where Daphne had been previously, but she wasn't there anymore and the area seemed dimmer without her there. He couldn't help but shake his head at the thought of that. He eyed the couples dancing and downed his leftover champagne in one go. It was not as though he didn't have a partner – on the contrary, it was the opposite. There were many witches who had asked him to the Yule ball, but he eventually ended up going with the Ravenclaw prefect, Padma Patil. He was initially looking forward to the event, but Padma had proved to be nothing but an immensely boring partner. She only talked about books, and nothing else – yes, Theo was a man who favoured intellectual conversations, which didn't involve trivial topics like heels or dresses, or anything relating to gossips, but sticking to only one topic? That, too, about books? On a day which was meant to be fun?

Theodore Aurelius Nott would rather pry out his own ribs, thank you very much.

Finishing his drink, he decided to get out of the Great Hall, in order to get some fresh air. The crowded hall and the excited buzzing of the students made him feel suffocated – once it was exciting, now it just felt like nothing but solitary confinement. He quietly whistled under his breath as he reached the corridors, taking out his chocolate flavoured thigars, which he was able to get from Hogsmeade. The wind wasn't as biting or vicious as it would be in Britain, but it was still cold enough to bring redness to his cheeks. Lighting it up nonverbally, he took a drag, puffing out small circles of smoke from his lips, as he stuffed his hands inside the pockets of his robes.

"I didn't know you smoked."

It was  _that_ voice, which made chills run up and down his spine. It made his cheeks grow even redder as his temperature spiked, his heart pounding against his chest. It was  _her_ voice. He hated that she had that power over him, but this was Daphne Greengrass – she had that power over  _everyone_ _._  Theo turned his head to look at her standing next to him in a dark red coat, her manicured hands shoved into her pockets, her eyes watching him with fascination.

"Only when I'm drunk, which is a rare occurrence," he replied, trying his best to maintain his composed demeanour.

"Oh. I see," she said, and there was a brief silence, as she took her gaze from him to look at the view in front of them. The chilly wind ruffled her brown hair and she had a smile on her lips. The smile was just as dangerous, though – it was one of those smiles that indicated that she knew  _something_ _,_  and the way she wore it was extremely convincing.

"Strange," she said in a soft hum, finally breaking the silence, her eyes never leaving the view outside. "Aren't you going to ask me what's strange, Theo?"

Theo refused to let her twirl him into this kind of tizzy. He refused to let her pull the strings of his emotions and hormones with her soft voice, her gentle gaze, and her confident stance. He refused to let his heart jump and his tongue stumble over the words he needed to say in response. She wasn't some goddess; she was Daphne Greengrass, who didn't have any more power over him than anyone else.

"What's strange?" He finally asked.

She looked back at him, her bluish-green eyes locking with his blue ones. They were outlined with a light black and it only made them more intense. "It's strange how we've yet to really meet."

"We have met." Theo couldn't help the confusion in his voice.

She smiled, in a way that a parent might smile at their child when they coloured their animal wrong. "Not really. I mean, I know who you are and you know who I am. We've spoken in passing, and in our classes, too. But I don't really know anything about you, and you surely know nothing about me." Her smile shifted, and it would have been imperceptible if he hadn't been paying strict attention. She was no longer smiling at him in some kind of patronizing demeanour – that he could easily concur.

Theo felt slightly uneasy but also strangely drawn to her. There was an electricity between the two of them – one that he couldn't be sure if it truly existed or was just a mere part of his imagination, due to the amount of drinks he'd had. He licked his lips and resisted taking a step closer to her.

"There is not much to know," he finally said, and it was the truth. What was there to know, anyway? His mother had succumbed to death when he was five. His father, an infamous Death Eater, who had abused him mentally and physically for years, had been taken to Azkaban after the battle of the Department of Mysteries, along with some other Death Eaters, leaving a sixteen year old Theo – the last Nott left, and heir of all the fortune the Nott estate possessed – behind to take care of the multiple business companies he had under his belt. All of it was in public archives already – his entire life was an open book for everyone to read. He didn't like the thought of it at all, but alas – his wishes weren't the deciding factor in life.

"About yourself or about me?"

Theo thought,  _really_ thought, and then answered, "Either."

"That's quite presumptuous of you, Theodore," she said, amusement sparkling in her eyes. "I happen to be a very intriguing woman."

Theo didn't dare blink. "In what ways?"

"In  _all_ ways," she countered in a hush, and her lips puckered into a small smile.

He studied her, at a loss for words, and tried to figure out how it was this woman was able to spin him up into this mess. Perhaps if he wasn't so intoxicated, she wouldn't have been able to do it so easily. He didn't want to admit that perhaps she was just that good at getting what she wanted, at making people feel special, at using that to her advantage.

She was watching him steadily still with that puckered smile and her all-knowing eyes. She knew she had him backed into a corner – figuratively, of course. She knew that there wasn't anything he could say to that, and she enjoyed the accomplishment.

Slowly,  _very_ slowly, Daphne let go. Her dangerous smile – the one that melted worlds and knocked down walls – beamed into existence on her face as she backed off from where she stood and, without another ushered word, made her way inside. Theo couldn't help but follow suit.

 


	2. Two

"Wow, you are really horrible at this."

"Oh. Shut the fuck up and just play your next move."

"Don't rush me, Theo. That's the whole point of the game."

This was not at all what Theodore had expected when he followed Daphne away from the celebrations. To be brutally honest, he had expected something that involved little to no clothing and, perhaps, a bit of alcohol. That would have been a smooth transition, considering she had taken them to the Room of Requirement – a place where they'd have some privacy, which might not be the case in the Slytherin Common Room, or even their own dormitories.

Daphne had been so warm,  _so_  inviting, trying to play coy whenever the two came close. Her perfume was subtle, yet so enticing – like, sandalwood, cinder, wine and... roses.

By then, Theo was certain that there wasn't going to be anything remotely risqué taking place. Yet, he still enjoyed her presence. Daphne was enchanting, alluring, enigmatic and marvellous. Theo had never experienced someone like her in his life, and it thrilled him. He did not know, once and for all, what to expect from a woman in front of him. There was a certain beauty in not knowing what to expect. He very much enjoyed her presence, even as he sat on the floor, failing miserably at the barbaric board game that haunted him.

Games weren't his forte. He wasn't a big fan of them, no matter of what sort – be it outdoor or indoor. Wizard's Chess was a brutal one. He was a lot more confident in the field of academics.

Theo had the sleeves of his white shirt rolled up, revealing his toned forearms – courtesy of carrying heavy books from the library to the Slytherin Common Room on a perpetual basis. He sat on the floor, his tie loosened, his legs folded at the ankles, stretched out before him, as he leaned against the black coloured couch behind him. Daphne sat across from him, a glass table separating the two Slytherins from each other. She had taken off her heels, but was still in her evening gown, her opera gloves discarded on one of the end tables that was placed along the wall. She was leaning on one hand, the other fiddling with the end of the table. She looked relaxed and radiant. As she beat him in the game again, she laughed a kind of laugh that impelled the other person to smile and laugh back.

"Sorry, Theo, but games are my thing," she drawled, smirking.

"I give up on this bloody game," Theo said, pushing the checkerboard aside. His assertion came out in sort of a complaint, but he didn't care. Daphne rolled her eyes.

"Quitter," she accused, looking way too amused.

"Why do you have it anyway?"

It was an honest, simple question, but Daphne took her sweet time to answer, almost making Theo think that she hadn't heard him. She began to arrange the pieces away, taking her time in placing them back in their correct slots. Her eyes were focused on the board, her face relaxed, although there was obviously something turning in her mind – some sort of clockwork that was making her brain tick. Eventually she shrugged and looked up at Theo, her hand pausing with a piece over its spot.

"I refuse to grow up," she finally replied after what seemed like forever. She smiled a little at him and continued packing the game.

Theo could not take his eyes off her. There was this woman – Daphne Greengrass – who was taught to be the best even before she had learned how to walk and talk. She was a dignified and august heiress of the Sacred 28's Greengrass manor and fortune, who always held herself with such poise that it was bound to set an example. She was a woman all men wanted to have, and all women aspired to be. After her father's untimely death in the Second Wizarding War, she was the only person Astoria and their mother, Eleanor, looked up to. This woman in front of him, at such a young age, had managed to endure such a tremendous amount of pressure on her shoulders without a single tear or complaint.

Theo found himself having a new profound respect for Daphne. Everyone knew the stories, the rumours. Daphne was promiscuous. Yet, she was so sincere – so blatantly open and so bloody honest. It was refreshing and confusing at the same time.

"Why's that?" Theo couldn't help but ask. He wanted her to elaborate, he needed her to elaborate – to know more. She was such a mystery, not only to him, but to the world at large. And that was what made her so intriguing. She had been right before – he didn't really know her, but now he really, really wanted to.

"Because I've been forced to," came her reply. "In my life, both personal and professional, I'm very mature. Sometimes, Tori says that I am  _too_ old." Done packing up the game board, she turned fully to him. Her manicured hand toyed with the end of the glass table again. "But there are things I can hold on to, that keep me young. Board games that I used to play, the feeling of opening Christmas presents in the morning – some of the things I hold on to very dearly. Otherwise I'm just adrift in an ocean full of never-ending responsibilities and sexual encounters."

"I understand."

"Oh." Daphne paused, her eyes snapping up to meet with his. "You do?" There was something pooling behind those bluish-green orbs – something Theo could identify as anger, determination, frustration, or even disbelief, although he couldn't pinpoint exactly what. It was so different from those mischievously twinkling doe-shaped eyes. "You understand me, Theodore Nott?"

"I– well, yeah... I am kind of in the same boat," Theo started cautiously, but Daphne's expression only hardened. "Sort of?" he tried again, but he still had no response from her. Sweet Salazar, if only looks could kill, he'd be dead by then. "Not at all? No, I'm not in the same boat at all."

Theo was briefly amazed at how she could make him backtrack so quickly. She was the only woman who ever did so. But he couldn't focus on that for too long as she stood up. Theo scrambled to his feet, too, to stand up with her. He had a feeling that he upset her somehow, hit a nerve, pissed her off too much – and that feeling did not at all settle well in his stomach. Not in the least.

It was turning sour then as he watched her walk to the exit door and push it open for him, indicating that he was no longer welcomed in her presence. There was no point in arguing with her. He did not know how he had offended her, and  _if_  she was offended at all.

She was an enigma, someone he couldn't yet figure out, and someone he would certainly die trying to figure out.

Not wanting to overstay his welcome, Theo wordlessly walked out of the Room of Requirement. He bid her good night and turned around to walk back to his dorm room, but she managed to surprise him yet again.

"Wait, Nott," came her drawl.

Instead of meeting with a hex, just like he had expected, he found Daphne leaning against the frame, arms crossed at her chest as she eyed him with a piercing, calculating gaze.

"I have a proposition for you." Her tone was all enticingly businesslike then. Theo licked his lips, this time cautious enough to not say anything that might offend her again.

"What proposition?"

"Three sixty-five days," she said.

"Pardon?" he was genuinely confused.

"Three sixty-five days," she repeated, "and we keep count."

"Keep count of what exactly?"

"Of how many people we've slept with."

Theo didn't say anything. He was trying to comprehend what she was saying, what she was implying or suggesting. Fortunately, he didn't have to do it all by himself. Answering his thoughts, Daphne cocked her head to her right, "I expect you know that we're going to be the latest hot new gossip in the school. People are going to speculate what happened after we left, and I can assure you – none of those speculations would include your horrible skills at Wizard's Chess. So, I propose a little... wager."

"A wager," Theo repeated, more to himself.

"A wager," Daphne echoed.

"I'm listening," he said, urging her to continue, although he didn't truly like the idea of where the conversation was going.

"Three sixty-five days and we keep count of how many people we've slept with," she reminded. "Whoever has slept with more by the end, wins."

"Wins what exactly?"

Daphne's smile was back, although this was a sly, foxy one. "Bragging rights? The rights to say that we're better than the other?"

Daphne was competitive – fiercely so, Theo knew that. She did not like losing, she liked being above everyone else. She liked being better than everyone else – at everything. There wasn't anything 'average' to her, and there wasn't going to be anything average about her then.

But he was no less. He lived to succeed, although the sight others failing before him was always sweeter. If he was going to go toe-to-toe with anyone over that sort of a thing, Daphne would be the one to do it with. He hadn't thought of it as a title before – his own promiscuity wasn't something he ever shied away from, but he never exalted it much either.

However, the idea that he could say that he was better than Daphne Greengrass at something… well, let's just say that that it was just too much to pass up.

"Alright, then," he finally responded. "It's a wager. I propose we meet up once a month to compare tallies, though. Oh, and… I think we should have a token from each one, that way we know neither of us are cheating."

"Fair enough. Starting tomorrow?"

"Ending in three sixty-five days."

Daphne nodded. "Good night, Theo."

"Sweet dreams, Daphne."

The door of the Room of Requirement was closed again, and he was standing in the cold, staring at the spot she had been in just moments before. Daphne was perhaps going to make sure that she looked as presentable as she did initially, before she herself walked out of the door and headed for her room. He wasn't quite sure what just happened, but he knew he had his work cut out for him.

With a slight shake of his head, Theo turned around and headed to his own dormitory, letting his feet carry him away from the girl who was about to change his world completely.


	3. Three

It was, by far, the least romantic rendezvous he had been a part of, but again, there wasn't supposed to be any romance involved in the game. Theo had already forgotten his latest conquest's name – hell, he barely even remembered how he had come across her, but he knew he'd be happy to part ways with her. Who wouldn't, after all? Merlin, the girl was thicker than he'd initially imagined. She was good for a release, but nothing much.

 _Oh, well,_ he thought. At least he'd gotten another tally. That was what mattered to him. He barely glanced at her as he pulled his trousers up. The brunette was busy fixing her own robes, and fixing her hair. She wobbled a little on her toes, and was insanely chattering away, saying something that Theo wasn't paying even the least bit attention to. However, he effectively put on a face of interest – one that he had mastered over years.

“I'll contact you later,” He flashed the girl a charming smile, which was sure to have anyone melt in front of him. She smiled back, rather giddily, and ducked under his arm.

“No, he wouldn't.” The brunette sprang apart from Theo, upon hearing another voice of a figure, not far away from them. Theo's eyebrows furrowed and he cocked his head to the right to examine the owner of the voice.

Lo and behold, Daphne stood across from them, her weight resting against one of the pillars of the enormous library.

“Daphne?” Theo questioned, although he did seem sort of relieved. Perhaps he was thankful that she wasn't Madam Irma Pince, the school's librarian.

Daphne ignored Theo, and instead looked at the brunette with a confident smile. “He wouldn't contact you, everyone knows it. So don't be waiting for it.”

She was wearing her Slytherin robes, her hair tied up in a messy bun, a few loose locks hanging from the sides and framing her beautiful face. As usual, she looked relaxed, confident, gorgeous even.

“That is the line all men feed the girls. Theo is no different... Goodness, honey,” her eyes flickered to his for a moment, and she enjoyed watching him look so flustered. “I'm still waiting for mine. I thought we had something special.”

Her lips turned into a pout, making Theo's gaze linger on them for a moment, before he turned to the other brunette. However, before he could even utter a single word, she scoffed and stomped away. Daphne calculatingly watched her exit, before turning to Theo with a soft, triumphant giggle.

“That was unnecessary, Greengrass.”

“Aw, but it was fun. Too bad,” she said. “She was kind of the bottom barrel anyway. You could have done _so_ much better.”

“Jealousy looks pretty good on you, I must admit,” Theo mused, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, do I seem jealous to you, Nott?”

“You do,” he replied, without any sort of hesitation. “Are you stalking me? If you wanted me that bad, all you had to do was _ask_...”

Daphne looked highly amused as she pushed herself off the pillar, and inched closer to him. “I wouldn't have to ask,” she said, an instantaneous and sly smile etching on her lips. She reached forward and fixed Theo's silver and green tie around his neck, her eyes never leaving him. Theo resisted pulling her closer. “But no, I am not jealous. I am just upset that you're making this _painfully_ easy for me,” she said with a click of her tongue, a smirk growing on her rose-coloured full lips. “This is supposed to be a competition, after all.”

It was amazing how confident this woman was. It was as though she knew what she was doing, and chances were, she did.

“And the library, of all places, Theo?” she continued. “Pince could have caught you in that position and then thrown you out of the library.”

“What the old hag doesn't know, doesn't hurt her,” came his swift reply.

Daphne laughed, and it was a melodious sound. “I suppose.”

“Well, what are you doing here then?” he asked, eyeing Daphne confidently.

“I happened to be here for a bit of light reading,” she reasoned. “It is the school's library, after all. Don't worry, I am not lurking around.”

With that, she turned around to leave, but Theo caught her clothed arm just right in time, making her pause. “Where are you going?”

“Its almost dinner time, Theo. Curfew's right after,” Daphne pointed out as the two walked out of the library, past the underfed vulturelike librarian's cautious gaze. “Or do you plan on staying here to add another tally? Speaking of which, how many is that for you?”

Theo paused to think, caught off guard by her sudden question. Daphne, however, kept walking at her pace, which made Theo jog a bit to catch up with her. She looked at him expectantly, and he bit his tongue, mentally counting.

It was already mid-January. Students who had gone home, had returned back to Hogwarts after their short Christmas vacation. Daphne had to go back, but Theo stayed. What would he do, back at home? There was no one waiting for him, save for the house elves. He did not want his vacation to be so dull, which was why he signed up to remain at Hogwarts, with a few other students.

It was perhaps a plus point for him, because he had managed to add tallies over the time. And as the holidays came to an end, and the classes began with full force, they kept on increasing.

“I'm at twenty two,” he answered, after he had managed to pull his thoughts back to the moment.

Daphne smiled. “Not bad.”

“Not... not bad?” Theo asked incredulously. “How many are you at?”

“A bit more than twenty two,” she answered easily as they reached the Great Hall, which as usual was filled with the excited buzzing of students. “Then again, I don't put as much effort as you do apparently. You were really working that girl over. I didn’t think you’d have to try so hard.”

Daphne was instantly welcomed by her friends, who greeted her with broad smiles. One of them – Terence Higgs, he recognized – even put his arm around the small of her back to regard her, and something twisted inside Theo's stomach at the thought of just how easily she was able to hook guys. He knew Daphne was looking at him, perhaps waiting for a clever retort, but Theo silently took the seat across from her.

He had called her jealous before, but he was the one who felt the surge of jealousy rush through his body. She nudged him under the table with her foot, and he lifted his gaze to look up at her again. He had last seen her on the night of the Yule Ball. She looked gorgeous back then, but there was just something so _alluring_ about her, as she sat across from him, with no makeup on and her Slytherin robes that accentuated her best features. He noticed that the other Slytherins had already busied themselves in a conversation.

“Well,” he began, “maybe I see it more like an art of sorts.”

“Oh, that's all rubbish, Theo. We both know it,” she retorted. “You see it just like I do – a good lay. You just don’t have to deal with the ramifications of manipulating people into bed with you.”

Theo was taken aback. “Excuse me?”

“Oh, you know,” she began, chewing her food. She took her sweet time to swallow before continuing, “You talk to girls to get them in bed with you and you’re suave, skilled... charming even. I talk to guys to get them into bed and I’m a manipulative bint – someone who uses her wiles for evil. See where I’m going with this?”

He did see where she was going with it, and she was right. She was pointing out the double standards of people. Theo didn't really have to worry about what people thought of him, and he had the impression that Daphne didn't care much either. He was struck by her confidence. Most women would look away, look sad, and try to appear vulnerable, but not Daphne. She was confident in knowing that people still didn't know anything about her and used it to her full advantage.

This wasn’t a woman who had given up because people ran her into the ground, this was a woman who had embraced the image she received, spun it around and made it into something that worked for her – something that benefited her. She wasn’t afraid to own up to it and that was one of the things that made her so attractive.

“Tell me, Theo,” she said suddenly, leaning closer to him across the table. Her eyes calculated each of Theo's moves as he swallowed a piece of lamp chop and drank from his goblet. “How would you charm me into your bed?”

Quickly shaking his head, he took another long drink of his pumpkin juice.

“Oh, come on. I’m mighty interested in hearing what line you would use on me,” Daphne drawled, smirking.

“I’m not playing into this.”

“I can handle it.” The way she was saying it was convincing. There wasn’t a question in her tone. She was positive she could handle whatever he threw at her, but it wasn’t her that he was worried about. “Don’t make me beg.”

“Oh.” Theo's eyes lit up. “I might like that a bit too much.”

Daphne made a _tsk_ sound. “Oh, come on, Nott, I don’t count as a tally.”

“Who says I’d use you as such?”

“Interesting,” she drawled. “So you’re saying you’d sleep with me… just to sleep with me?”

“No,” Theo automatically said, shaking his head as he leaned forward. “I'm saying that I'd sleep with you because I want to. Because you're very attractive, and it's practically taking every bit of my will power to not jump your bones right now.”

A small smile spread across Daphne's lips and she raised an elegant eyebrow, as if she was actually contemplating letting him do that. A part of Theo hoped that she would, but there was something behind that smile of hers which told him that she wasn't going to. She was playing a game with him which was similar to playing cat and mouse. But the worst part of it was, Theo enjoyed it and he would let her continue doing that. He knew he would let her do it for as long as she wanted to.

“Well, Theo, that isn't going to happen tonight. Tell you what, though – you win this wager and maybe you won't have to hold back anymore,” she responded with a smirk. “For now, I'm going to get myself another tally by the means of Higgs.”

She slipped out of her seat and leaned around the table to brush her lips along his cheek lightly in a kiss. She whispered against the shell of his ear, her sinful lips ghosting over his skin, making him shiver, “I'll see you around, Theo.”

Then, she was walking away from him, her eyes set on the attractive, older male. Jealousy reared its ugly head at Theo again, as Higgs looked up at Daphne with a broad smirk. Theo scowled, dragging her hardly touched pumpkin juice towards him and downing it, finishing the goblet in one go.

 _This is getting dangerous,_ he thought, shaking his head as he stared at his plate in silence.


	4. Four

The quietness of the boys' dormitory was broken the moment Blaise entered his room and closed the door behind him. The other lads being out to spend the afternoon of their weekend in Hogsmeade village, Theo was the only one present inside. He simply did not feel like going anywhere, for he hadn't run out of any of his necessities.

As his blue eyes locked with the brown ones of Blaise, he silently observed his expression. Blaise had his usual poker-face, but his eyes looked bright.

"Had a nice time, I presume?" Theo asked casually, returning back to the book he held in his hand. Blaise had informed Theo earlier that he would be taking Astoria Greengrass to a date – a trip to Hogsmeade.

Blaise grinned, regarding Theo briefly as he plopped down on his bed. He rested his black coat beside himself. "It was amazing – better than I thought it would be. She's so vivacious. We ended up at The Three Broomsticks after a long day."

"That's nice, mate," came the former Slytherin's bored reply.

"Yes," Blaise mused. "Every time I think I finally know her, she surprises me with more. Its amazing, really. I think I  _really_  like her."

Theo raised an eyebrow, his mouth forming an 'o' shape. He didn't bother looking up at him as he replied, "Wow... Really? Big surprise. And here I was thinking that the Greengrass sisters had that trait in their blood or something."

Blaise raised an eyebrow, pursing his lips. "Your sarcasm isn't much appreciated while I'm in a good mood, mate."

"Is that so?" Theo asked, pressing his lips together as he flipped a page of the book. He knew he was being petty, but he didn't really care. "Fine, then. I won't be a bother anymore."

Blaise didn't reply soon; instead, he got up from his seat and made his way to Theo's four-poster bed, snatching the book from his hand and tossing it aside. Theo didn't bother protesting, but he stared back at Blaise with a cold, hardened expression.

"Okay," Blaise said, sighing. "What are you doing?"

"I was... reading? Until you interrupted, of course."

Blaise looked annoyed as he narrowed his eyes. "What the fuck is wrong?"

"Nothing. Can't you see? I'm having the time of my life."

"Nott, I'm serious."

"Nothing." Theo shook his head. "Nothing, really. Just had a bad day. I'm fine."

"Go feed all that nonsense to Crabbe and Goyle." The dark skinned wizard rolled his eyes, scoffing. "They are the only ones that thick to buy them. It won't work with  _me,_  of all people."

Theo sighed. It wasn't technically a lie, though. Earlier the day, he had witnessed Daphne with Ernest Macmillan, the Hufflepuff prefect, walking out of the greenhouses after volunteering to help Professor Sprout sort out the new flesh eating dragonsnaps. Macmillan stood a bit too close to her, smiled a bit too much, and laughed a bit too loud for Theo to ignore. While it would have been fine with him any other day, it suddenly crossed his head what she had told him a couple of days ago.

_"Then again, I don't put as much effort as you do apparently. You were really working that girl over. I didn't think you'd have to try so hard."_

She wasn't boasting, after all. Compared to him, her moves looked so natural, so smooth. It wasn't at all a surprise to him that she was able to tame and make one of the most difficult person in school cooperate, but  _how_  she did it, was a complete mystery. Yes, he was jealous – very much so. It bruised his ego. But again, Theo was an ambitious man. He knew he wasn't as subtle as her with his goals; so, what he lacked in subtlety, he made up for in determination.

And he was determined to win, to prove himself to her. Nothing validated his pride more than defeating Daphne Greengrass, and he was going to do it.

"It is about Daphne, isn't it?" Blaise asked, his deep voice cutting the silence like a chainsaw. Theo looked up at him, surprised, confirming Blaise's suspicion. "I see you two together rather frequently nowadays–"

"I'm not sleeping with her," He drawled, not bothering to mask his boredom with the subject, even though it had just been brought up. He knew where Blaise was heading with it. He felt like they had exhausted the topic countless times before although this was the first time they'd had it – in depth, at any rate.

"Oh, well, that's a relief then," Blaise responded; he looked irritated, his voice dripping with surplus sarcasm. "Okay – crisis averted. You're not shagging her. Good for you, mate. Alright, if that's all. I'll try my best to overlook your unnecessarily foul mood."

"Listen, Zabini, I just want some time in peace. So, you get the fuck out, or I will–"

"If you're not sleeping with her, then what the fuck are you doing?" His voice rose, surprising Theo. Blaise very rarely raised his voice to him; he had only done it a handful of times before, being the level-headed guy that he was, and it was always a shock to Theo's system whenever he did so.

"Why are you even asking? It doesn't matter," he responded curtly.

"Oh, yes, it does. It does matter if you're going to behave like that."

Theo sighed heavily and passed a hand over his face, rubbing at his eyes as though it would ward off an ebbing headache. With every passing minute, it was getting harder for him to maintain his composed demeanor.

"We're friends, that's all."

"Bullshit."

"Merlin's beard, Zabini, what the fuck do you want me to say?" Now it was Theo's turn to snap, but Blaise was much more accustomed to it than he was. He visibly scowled at the handsome, dark-skinned Slytherin and stood from his spot in the bed, stretching his arms over his head and making the individual vertebrae crack softly. "Yes, okay, I spent time with her in the Room of Requirement on the day of that stupid ball, but all we did was play that maddening game of Wizard's chess."

"That's... that's  _all_  you did?"

Theo nodded. "Then I left and as I was leaving, she stopped me." He hadn't told anyone about the events of that night. It wasn't anyone's business but his own, but if it got Blaise off his back he had no qualms in telling him about it. "She offered me a proposition – a bet."

Blaise raised an eyebrow at him, relaxing as he listened to the story. "Well, do go on."

"We keep tally of how many people we sleep with in a year, and the one with the most at the end wins."

There was a brief pause, and then Blaise raised his eyebrows again, inclining his head a bit toward his best friend in disbelief.

"I'd suggested that you get laid that night, because you seemed... frustrated – sexually frustrated. But what the fuck did you actually  _do?"_  he asked incredulously. "And wins what exactly? A million galleons? A giant teddy bear? I'm sure that's nothing you cannot afford on your own."

Theo just shrugged, only adding to his irritation, and silently meandered around the room, fetching the book which the latter had tossed aside earlier. Blaise looked like he was about to punch a wall. Theo couldn't possibly lie and say that he didn't take some kind of enjoyment out of it. Both the friends had a penchant for irritating each other. It was just so easily done.

Blaise rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Theo. You know, if this is… I don't even… whatever, Theo. Just… fucking  _whatever."_  He got up from the bed and waved his hand at him dismissively before crossing the room and letting the door shut with a snap.

Theo sighed audibly, thinking,  _it's going to be a long day._

By the time of dinner came, Blaise was still iffy about the whole incident. He chose not to mention it, however, at the Slytherin table – much to Theo's relief.

As the latter busied himself in a conversation with Draco Malfoy – the Head Boy, Theo's attention wandered to Daphne. She was surrounded with her female accomplices – Pansy Parkinson, Tracey Davis and Millicent Bulstrode. He couldn't help the small smirk that etched on his soft lips at the view; Daphne outshined them all even without wanting to, effortlessly looking like a queen attended to by her ladies-in-waiting.

Even though the basis of their acquaintanceship was a friendly wager, Daphne and Theo were on friendly enough terms. They checked in with each other fairly regularly, kept track of each other's tallies, and sometimes they would lapse into friendly conversation. He learned a little more about her every time they talked – for instance, Florianne Fawley was her favourite author, and she loved the colour black. She was still a puzzle to him, however, still ridiculously unknowable, but he was learning, and that was what mattered to him the most.

Something was obviously ticking inside his brain as he reached for his book-bag. He quietly took out a spare piece of parchment, his quill, and an ink bottle. Dipping the quill inside the ink, he began scribbling:

_'So I had a bit of a row with my best mate over you today. I hope you're happy, Greengrass. We're not even dating, and you've already managed to ruin one of my friendships.'_

He smirked, letting his fingers toy with the edge of the parchment absentmindedly. He knew she'd be able to detect the playfulness in his writing. He continued writing.

_'I've been thinking, which... I know, is quite a rare occurrence for me, but I have been thinking that perhaps the stakes for this bet aren't exactly high enough. I want something else when I win – not just bragging rights to a title that I know is properly mine in the first place. So here's what I want: I want you. I'm not quite sure how I want you yet, but I want you. I'll get back to you with more details. Feel free to change what your winnings might be, even though you won't get them.'_

He crumbled the parchment and, making sure that no one was looking, aimed it at the said girl. It hit her arm and made her turn her attention away from the girls. Picking up the parchment and opening it, she let her big bluish-green eyes scan the table to look for the culprit. When her gaze locked with that of Theo, he lazily smirked at her before returning his attention back to the food in front of him, as he waited for her response.

He knew very well that she wouldn't take it. He knew that she would fight him on it, but that was  _exactly_  what he wanted. There were only a few things he found himself liking more than a fight with Daphne lately. She was fiery, conniving, and beautiful when fighting and arguing. She was wonderful in every sense of the word. If she were to just give up and give in, she might not be nearly as appealing to him.

Just as dinner was nearly over and few of the students were already heading back to their respective common rooms, something light hit the back of his head. Lo and behold, it was the crumbled piece of parchment which landed on the floor – Daphne's response. He looked up to find her, but she was already walking out of the Great hall, her friends following behind. He found it slightly weird that she didn't spare him a single glance, but he soon shrugged off the thought. He quickly picked up the note, and there were three solitary words written in a neat handwriting on the backside of the same piece of parchment:

_'In your dreams.'_


End file.
